Spring break plan features theater, music, and New York’s Step Afrika! for Flint students
By Patsy Isenberg A visit and performance by a New York City dance troupe, Step Afrika!, and a Broadway-style show at the newly-reopened Capitol Theatre are features of an April 2-6 spring break program for Flint students age 4 to 17 announced Tuesday.. The Morris...
John Cherry makes 49th District State House run official; kicks off campaign
By Paul Rozycki Saying “We need leaders that show a genuine dedication to the public, whether or not it is easy or convenient for them,” John Cherry became the third Democrat to declare his candidacy to replace term-limited Phil Phelps in Michigan’s 49th state House...
42 percent vacant: Forum explores Flint’s “everyday remaking of place” after abandonments
By Jan Worth-Nelson Forty-two percent of Flint's properties are vacant -- 24,000 of them --and their presence, appearing to some like tombstones, to others like hopeful patches of gardens or clover, to others annoyances swamped by unmowed grass or decaying trash--has...
Whitmer introduces herself to Flint, challenges Detroit Dems’ reported doubts
By Jan Worth-Nelson Declaring "Michigan deserves better" than a GOP-led regime she said has created a state which "hardly resembles the Michigan I think of when I talk about my Michigan pride," Democratic candidate for governor Gretchen Whitmer introduced herself to...
Review: Sloan exhibit captures persistent intertwining threads of race and housing in Flint history
By Dylan Doherty “An Equal Opportunity Lie," a new exhibit highlighting the intertwining influences of race and housing in the history of Flint, opened at the Sloan Museum on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 15 and runs until May 28. The title is a quote from Floyd...
Transparency, transition to AECOM highlight first mayor’s FAST Start forum
By Meghan Christian With a stated effort toward transparency, Mayor Karen Weaver held the first of several community forums planned for 2018 on Thursday, Feb. 1 to update residents on the progress of the FAST Start pipe replacement program and to introduce AECOM, the...
East Village Magazine – February 2018
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here:
Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling announces 49th District state house run
By Jan Worth-Nelson Stating that he has a "unique perspective” about state and local issues honed by what he learned from the Flint water crisis, former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling has announced he is running as a Democrat for state representative in the 49th District...
Gerrymandering Part Three: going to court
By Paul Rozycki Just when you thought you’ve heard enough about gerrymandering, and the ballot proposals to end it---there is one more line of attack. Now the courts are getting involved. Two previous columns in past issues of East Village Magazine (Part One...
Daughter of immigrants, Mona Hanna-Attisha details Flint’s disaster and hope: an analysis
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Frederick Douglass (Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha’s favorite quote) By Harold C. Ford Several dozen area residents gathered at the Flint Public Library Jan. 9 to hear Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha reflect on...
Tree issues, city charter implementation highlight CCNA meeting
By Patsy Isenberg A disputed tree-replacement contract and concerns about tree removals were topics of the January meeting of the College Cultural Neighborhood Association, along with updates about plans for Pierce Park, discussion of progress in implementing the...
The fabric of Flint: Good Beans owner Ken Van Wagoner weaves coffee, community spirit
By Jeffery L Carey Jr Despite the travails of Flintstones, there is an underlying spirit--or as Ken Van Wagoner, owner of one of Flint’s enduring hangouts, the Good Beans Café, describes it, “a shared feeling of tenacity” where “we’re all a fabric that is holding each...
Review: Flint welcomes Lakisha home in joyful combo with Flint Symphony, Michigan Men’s Glee Club
By Patsy Isenberg On a frigid Saturday night at The Whiting Auditorium, Flint’s own Lakisha Jones, a 2007 fourth place finalist on American Idol, came home for a love-fest performance with the Flint Symphony Orchestra. It was Jan. 13 and Jones’s 38th birthday....
Review/Commentary: “Destiny of the Republic” a timely look at an honorable president
“When he (James Garfield) was still a very young man, he had hidden a runaway slave… In Congress, he fought for equal rights for freed slaves. He argued for a resolution that ended the practice of requiring blacks to carry a pass in the nation’s capital, and he...
Flint Council starts 2018 with unanimous decisions on appointments, housing service charge
By Meghan Christian The Flint City Council unanimously approved three appointments at their Jan. 8 meeting, and also amended three city ordinances that will allow development projects to pay a service charge in lieu of taxes as long as certain quality standards are...
Village Life: How new digs in Flint made a doggie dream come true
By Meghan Christian This is about a dream of puppy love coming true, right on the east side of Flint. About a year into our relationship, my boyfriend Chad and I started talking about getting a dog. We would sit on the futon in our cramped, one-bedroom apartment and...
Flint’s “Idol” Lakisha Jones, Flint Symphony coming to Whiting Jan.13
By Patsy Isenberg Back in 2007, Flint native Lakisha Jones was a finalist in TV’s American Idol competition. Jones wowed America and the judges, coming in fourth place and beating out thousands of singers across the country. And now she's set to perform in her...
East Village Magazine – January 2018
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here:
City-wide youth basketball league launching in January
by Harold C. Ford A boost for basketball in Flint is arriving in 2018, with the launch of a new city-wide youth basketball league starting Jan. 6. For some, the announcement sets off hopes for a return of Flint's faded reputation as a formidable basketball town. But...
Health in their hands: Flint’s sixth graders share “community action” science projects
by Harold C. Ford More than 200 sixth graders from six Flint Community Schools shared results of their “community action projects” with peers, parents, press, and others Dec. 12 at Flint’s Riverfront Banquet Center. The students had been studying Type 2 diabetes in...
City Council appoints MTA directors, clears step for culinary institute, names street administrator
By Meghan Christian The Flint City Council approved two appointments, unanimously voted for four resolutions, and designated a new street administrator at their Dec. 19 meeting. Quincy Murphy and Chief Recovery Officer Jameca Patrick-Singleton were appointed to the...
Review: Christmas favorites, talented performers highlight “A Merry, Merry McCree Christmas”
By Patsy Isenberg The dress rehearsal for “A Merry, Merry McCree Christmas” Wednesday promised a worthwhile way to spend some holiday time this weekend. The production, which opened Thursday evening, features 27 numbers performed by a big group of enthusiastic local...
Educare Flint a model for education reform: “What kids need…what kids deserve”
by Harold C. Ford A broad coalition of public and private organizations—led by the Flint-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation—publicly launched a dazzling new state-of-the-art school that will provide early childhood education for 220 Flint children from birth to age...
Race played significant role in water crisis, civil rights director asserts in Tendaji Talk
By Patsy Isenberg The underlying issue in the Flint water crisis was “the role of race,” Agustin Arbulu, director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, asserted in a Tendaji Talk at the Flint Public Library Dec. 12. In summarizing the work of the Michigan Civil...
Re-opened Capitol Theater draws rave reviews, praise for city’s “momentum”
By Jan Worth-Nelson On a chilly, windy Thursday night, downtown Flint celebrated as a cherished 90-year-old landmark, the Capitol Theater, once almost given up for dead, lit up into a brilliant new life. Hundreds of bundled-up Flint folks, savoring nostalgia and...
